Dreams: A Compilation of Short Stories

Story IX: The House by The Field

Ouch! Another mosquito had pierced the skin on my neck. I slapped it, and removed my hand which was now coated in a glistening layer of sweat. What a hot day it was. The blistering heat was made hotter by the amount of moisture in the air. It felt like the atmosphere had become a muggy swamp where only the alligators could live. I was lying on a rubbery lawn chair in the field near the house. I had my shirt off because of the heat, and a glass of completely melted ice sitting on the ground beside me.

I had begun to drift off to sleep when I saw vincent come running across the field straight towards me. I sat up, what could he possibly want? Then behind him, a small plane rose up, the air from its propeller made a path of flattened grass before it. They had found us!

I waited for Vincent to catch up to me before running back towards the house with him. I grabbed his hand and we stumbled through the thick grass, the plane on our heels. We finally made it to the house, mama and papa looked at us markedly for a few seconds when we burst through the door, but then got up and began preparation. First papa began locking the doors and windows as mama led us to the safe room in the basement. There we sat, in the dark, papa finally came down and locked the huge metal door.

It was silent, but I could hear Vincent's shaky breaths down by my shoulder. I was scared, not scared of dying, but rather of losing someone who I love. I grabbed my brother and hugged him, then I hugged my mother. My bare back was now covered in a layer of chalky dirt from shifting along the wall.

I heard the plane land up above. It was all becoming a blur now, my heart was beating rapidly and I could feel a cold sweat begin to form on the back of my neck. Suddenly I heard a huge "slam", the door had been broken down. We heard footsteps, they wandered for a few moments, then stopped. They knew where we were. They walked towards the metal hatch. They pried it open with a lage metal bar, exposing the terrified family. Then a hand reached down with a large white box. I was confused, but mama seemed to know what was going on. She reached up and grabbed the box.

I was scared now very scared, she looked over at each of us and gave us a strange look, it was a look of despair, yet she was smiling. I realized what it meant, I leapt towards her, but it was too late, there was a loud crack. My mother had killed us.